May 18, 2007

Championship Central

MOBILE, Ala. - Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) swept three doubles matches to open the 2007 NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship Match, and the Senators managed to claim a pair of singles wins for a  5-0 final decision over APU Friday in Mobile, Ala.

The Senators, who are champions for the second-straight year and seventh time in school history, claimed their second-consecutive win over APU in the title match, as AUM topped the Cougars 5-0 in 2006.

AUM started the title bout with a win by Daniel Plasa and Anton Brykalin over Patrick Kur and Mathias Webber in doubles competition, while Victor Sanaki Papi and Nikola Miskovic also pulled out a 9-7 decision over David Goodman and Matthijis Bolsius to take a 2-0 lead.

Tim Murdick and Alex Petropuolos extended the match lead to 3-0 in No. 3 doubles, topping Ronald Chow and Robbie Dabbs 8-3 to close doubles play.

In singles, AUM needed only two wins to take the match, as Sanaki Papi topped Bolsius 6-4, 7-6 (5) to extend the lead to four, and Murdick's 6-2, 6-0 win over Dabbs at No. 6 singles slammed the door on the title, marking and end to a season in which Auburn Montgomery started and ended the year as the NAIA's No. 1 ranked tennis team and also claimed its second-straight title.

Three singles matches - Brykalin vs. Goodman, Plasa vs. Kur, and Miskovic vs. Art Fatkhiev - remained unfinished after AUM reached the necessary five wins to take the national championship match.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH SUMMARY

Doubles
#1 - A. Brykalin/D. Plasa (AUM) def. P. Kur/M. Weber (APU), 8-3
#2 - V. Sanaki Papi/N. Miskovic (AUM) def. D. Goodman/M. Bolsius (APU), 9-7
#3 - T. Murdick/A. Petropoulos (AUM) def. R. Chow/R. Dabbs (APU), 8-3

Singles
#1 - Anton Brykalin (AUM) vs. David Goodman (APU), DNF
#2 - Daniel Plasa (AUM) vs. Patrick Kur (APU), DNF
#3 - Victor Sanaki Papi (AUM) def. Matthijs Bolsius (APU), 6-4, 7-6(5)
#4 - Alex Petropuolos (AUM) vs. Ronald Chow (APU), DNF
#5 - Nikola Miskovic (AUM) vs. Art Fatkhiev (APU), DNF
#6 - Tim Mudrick (AUM) def. Robbie Dabbs (APU), 6-2, 6-0